


RP: Second Chances

by anightreveur, grewupwithharrypotter



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Angst, I suppose, Period-Typical Homophobia, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, RP, Steve and Natasha talking, Texting, about Bucky, but not like pure angst that makes you want to cry, its an RP from omegle so don't expect me to be a good writer in this, just characters angsting it up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 11:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4261824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anightreveur/pseuds/anightreveur, https://archiveofourown.org/users/grewupwithharrypotter/pseuds/grewupwithharrypotter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: ((Post Winter Soldier, except Bucky didn't leave, he just sat down next to Steve and waited, and when they found Steve he got arrested))<br/>Conversation via text between Steve and Natasha.</p>
            </blockquote>





	RP: Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first thing I'm putting up even though I've been RPing for a while now. Figured it was about time I had something up on this beside bookmarks. Feedback is welcome so go for it.

**Stranger:**  Nat, I need your help. You have to make them let him go. Or make them let me leave the hospital, just help me get him out of there. He's not going to get any better if they lock him up in some prison cell. SR

**You:**  Steve, I'm not going to help you break your best friend who you thought was dead out of captivity when he tried to break the world because he was brainwashed by Hydra. NR

**Stranger:**  I wasn't talking about breaking him out. More like, talk them into letting him go. SR

**You:**  Well that wouldn't work. NR

**You:**  He's dangerous, Steve. NR

**Stranger:**  He's not dangerous without HYDRA, and HYDRA is gone. Why would he hurt someone without being told to do so? SR

**You:**  Because he still believes in what they stand for. NR

**Stranger:**  Who told you that? If that was true, why would he save me? SR

**You:**  Because he remembered you. NR

**You:**  Not everyone has that to cling to. NR

**You:**  Me, I'm just a Shield agent to him so I'm fair game. NR

**Stranger:**  Well, I'm not going to let him walk around in public slaughtering people. SR

**Stranger:**  He deserves a second chance, Natasha, he didn't want any of this. SR

**You:**  You're saying that you could stop him? If he tried to go on a rampage or whatever you want to call it, are you telling me that you could stop him? NR

**You:**  Even if it meant you killing him? NR

**Stranger:**  I'm saying I won't expose him to the public just yet. SR

**You:**  You wouldn't, would you? NR

**Stranger:**  He's a good guy. I know he is. He's not beyond saving. And he deserves to be saved. Why should he have to rot away in prison just because HYDRA decided that he was the one they would turn into a weapon? SR

**You:**  Steve, get your heart out of this. NR

**Stranger:**  No. SR

**You:**  Would you kill him if you needed to? NR

**Stranger:**  I know I won't have to, there's no point to that question. SR

**You:**  You wouldn't. Just admit it. You wouldn't. NR

**Stranger:**  I would knock him out if I needed to. SR

**You:**  You would kill him? NR

**Stranger:**  Knock him out. SR

**You:**  Knocking him out isn't what would need to happen. NR

**Stranger:**  Natasha, you got a second chance. Why did you deserve it but he doesn't? SR

**You:**  There were very different circumstances. NR

**Stranger:**  I don't care. Look, if you don't want to help me, fine. I'll get him out somehow. SR

**You:**  Steve, that's a really stupid idea. NR

**Stranger:**  Yeah. Well. SR

**You:**  Why do you care so much about him? Is it just because you used to be friends? Do you feel like you owe him because he fell off the train? NR

**Stranger:**  Of course it's not because I owe him, do you really think I'm that kind of person? SR

**You:**  Well then why are you so broken up about this that you're ignoring what I'm telling you? NR

**Stranger:**  Because he deserves a second chance, that's why. Because I don't believe that innocent people should have to pay for the crimes organisations like HYDRA committed. SR

**Stranger:**  Because I care about these things, because I care about justice. SR

**You:**  Yeah, you do but that isn't all of it. NR

**Stranger:**  That's the main reason. I would be fighting for him even if I didn't know him. SR

**Stranger:**  And on top of that, he's my best friend. Before the war, and during the war, Bucky was all I had. I'm not gonna let him down now. SR

**You:**  He doesn't remember that. NR

**Stranger:**  Oh, but he does. I saw it. I know it. SR

**You:**  Even if that's true, he doesn't remember it to the point that you could guarantee everyone's safety. NR

**You:**  Just drop it for now, Rogers. He'll get out eventually but he needs to see reality for what it is rather than through his super-strength Hydra enforced self. NR

**Stranger:**  He recognised me on that bridge. I know he did, even if he didn't know what to do with it. But when we met on the helicarrier, he was completely different. He was... kind of, I don't know, empty? He recognised me and he realised what was happening. And he fought them, he fought HYDRA, and he got punished for that and that's why he was different. That's what must have happened. SR

**You:**  Except you don't know that. You just want it to be true. NR

**Stranger:**  He doesn't believe in HYDRA's goals, Nat, he just doesn't know that there's anything else. SR

**Stranger:**  I don't think he would kill without being given the order. And I'm not planning on giving him that order. Are you? SR

**You:**  Maybe. He'd know what Hydra commanders we didn't get to. He could find them. That would help us. NR

**You:**  It's not what you want to hear but that's what would make Shield want to get him out of containment. That would be him proving his loyalty. NR

**Stranger:**  Fine. Get me out of this hospital and I'll talk to him. He'll tell them, I'm sure he would. I'm pretty sure he's not exactly fond of those people. SR

**You:**  He wouldn't give away names. It's against his orders. NR

**You:**  Doesn't matter if he doesn't like them, he won't give them away. NR

**Stranger:**  He wouldn't rescue his target either. Pretty sure that's against his orders too. SR

**You:**  Momentary lapse because of remembering the relationship you had with him. NR

**Stranger:**  He sat with me for half an hour. SR

**Stranger:**  He waited. SR

**You:**  There aren't any memories to interrupt the idea that he isn't supposed to talk about Hydra. Especially to Shield. NR

**Stranger:**  He's not gonna talk to S.H.I.E.L.D., he's gonna talk to me. SR

**You:**  There's a better chance but he still knows that you're Shield. NR

**Stranger:**  I'm not S.H.I.E.L.D., though. You are, Clint is, but I don't work for S.H.I.E.L.D., Nat. Not anymore, not after this disaster. I work for the Avengers. And we work with S.H.I.E.L.D., not for them. SR

**You:**  Affiliation. NR

**Stranger:**  Look, I know he's not gonna give those names up today. Or tomorrow, or next week. But if they keep him locked up in that cell, he's never gonna give them up. If they let him go and move in with me, he'll get better. Slowly, but surely. SR

**You:**  Move in with you? That's your great plan? NR

**Stranger:**  I'm gonna go back to New York. Already told Tony about it, too. He's gonna buy a place for me. As in, the whole building. Not just one apartment. There won't be any neighbours. Just Bucky and I. SR

**You:**  And he wouldn't get out? NR

**Stranger:**  I don't think he would want to, let's be honest. SR

**You:**  He wouldn't want to escape a place where he's being kept? NR

**Stranger:**  He wouldn't be kept, he would live there. SR

**You:**  People will always want to leave if they don't think they have a choice. NR

**Stranger:**  Oh, I will give him a choice. SR

**Stranger:**  He's not an animal, he's a human being. I'll talk to him, he'll understand. SR

**You:**  And if he doesn't choose you? NR

**Stranger:**  You think he'll want to choose? You think he'll use his own mind to make his own conscious decisions? SR

**You:**  So you want to use the fact that he's used to taking orders without question and the fact that he trusts you to make sure he stays in an apartment building? Rogers, I didn't think you had it in you. NR

**Stranger:**  No, that's not what I was implying. I was implying that I agreed with you. SR

**Stranger:**  He'll want to choose. SR

**Stranger:**  He'll use his own mind to make his own conscious decision. SR

**Stranger:**  And he'll do that when it comes to where he lives, and when it comes to whether or not he should kill someone. SR

**You:**  Will he? Or will he 'understand' what you're trying to say is the safest thing for everyone and take it as an order. If you say 'We want you to stay here so that you can't hurt anyone' will he hear 'your mission is to stay in this building and avoid detection' NR

**You:**  He hasn't chosen anything in years. NR

**Stranger:**  I won't say it like that. SR

**You:**  He's a weapon, Rogers. NR

**Stranger:**  No, he's a human being. SR

**You:**  Not right now, he isn't. NR

**Stranger:**  Yes, he is. Natasha, he is. And if you're too far gone in your 'trust no one and care about no one' mentality to see that, then I'm sorry I asked you and I guess I was wrong about you. I'll get him out myself, if I have to. But I will get him out. Because he deserves that chance. And because I believe in him. SR

**You:**  Rogers? NR

**Stranger:**  What? SR

**You:**  You can go ahead and make a huge mistake. You can be the one that has to explain why he only listens to you, doing everything you say because he's got it in his head that you're his new commander. Or you can explain why he didn't listen to you and why he destroyed part of the city or killed someone or multiple people. You can be the one to talk to their families about how all Bucky needed was a second chance. I won't tell you that I told you it would happen. I might not answer you the next time you want to break him out for a third chance because you still believe in him. NR

**You:**  And don't ever talk to me like that again, Rogers. NR

**Stranger:**  I'm pretty sure they told Clint the same things. SR

**You:**  Except I could be taken out. Couldn't I? You won't even say you'd kill him if you needed to. Clint did. He said it in front of me. He told me that he trusted me but not everyone would and if I betrayed them, he'd put a bullet between my eyes. NR

**Stranger:**  You're faster than Clint, and stronger too. He couldn't knock you out if he wanted to. That's the difference. If he wanted to stop you, he would have to do it the hard way. SR

**You:**  Yeah, he would have. But he still could have done it. NR

**Stranger:**  And I will do what I have to do to stop him, too. The thing is, he'll take my shield to the back of his head, and not a bullet between the eyes. SR

**You:**  Would that kill him or just knock him out for a bit? NR

**Stranger:**  It would knock him out for a few hours. Long enough to stop him and lock him up until he's calm. SR

**You:**  Jesus, Steve. You can't be worried about hurting him too much. That's the entire point. If you need to kill him, you do it. You don't try and find the way that would get your best solution. NR

**Stranger:**  You know, I distinctly remember you doing the exact opposite of what you just said when it was you and Clint fighting, during Loki's attack. You could've killed him. You knocked him out. SR

**Stranger:**  Funny, that. Especially since it was pretty much the same situation, here. Brainwashed friend trying to destroy the city. SR

**You:**  It was the wrong call. I got lucky when it worked out. NR

**Stranger:**  It was the right call, Natasha, goddamnit. How can you be so cold? SR

**Stranger:**  Caring is not a disadvantage. Caring is what separates us from people like Pierce. Caring is what makes us good. Caring gives us a reason to fight. It's a good thing. SR

**You:**  You don't think I care? NR

**Stranger:**  I think you care about the wrong things. SR

**You:**  Wow, Rogers and here I am thinking you know me too well. NR

**You:**  What should I care about then? According to you, Captain America, what is it that I should care about? NR

**Stranger:**  No, the question is, what do you care about? Let's see. You want to take no risks, right? Delete all potential dangers, lock away anybody and everybody who might become dangerous in the future. Bucky might end up freaking out. He might end up destroying the city. So let's take no risk and just, leave him where he is. It's just one guy. That's your train of thoughts, right? The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? SR

**You:**  Why is that wrong? NR

**Stranger:**  Well, that's exactly what HYDRA was doing in Washington. Now, you're not sacrificing thousands and thousands of people, I'll give you that. SR

**Stranger:**  But if we don't value every single innocent life, no life has value. SR

**You:**  I wait until people are dangerous, Rogers. I'm not trying to commit mass genocide across the world, I'm trying to help. I was there taking down Hydra, right next to you so when the fuck did you get the right to tell me I'm like them? NR

**Stranger:**  When you decided that HYDRA's victims were as bad as HYDRA. SR

**You:**  I was the victim of brainwashing too, Steve. The difference is you keep on trying to take James away from what he did. I know that I was a part of it and I admit it. I take the responsibility for what I did. So yes, sometimes the victims are part of the problem. NR

**Stranger:**  You still blame yourself for what you did for Department X? Are you serious? SR

**Stranger:**  Taking your weapon metaphor... You don't blame the gun, you blame the person who pulls the trigger. SR

**Stranger:**  You're not guilty, and Bucky's not guilty. SR

**You:**  I am guilty. I killed people. I continue to kill people. So yes, I blame myself for what I did because I did it. NR

**Stranger:**  Bucky was the kind of guy who wrote horrible love letters whenever he met a girl. He listened to Eddy Duchin. He sang under the shower, and not very well. He loved science. I mean, loved it. If you wanted to make him happy, if you wanted to make him forget about the war and the financial crisis and hunger and my horrible health, you'd take him to a science convention. He'd end up smiling for days. That's the kind of guy he was. A genuinely good guy. A caring guy, thoughtful, sensitive. A really good dancer, too. He was no killer. They took away everything that made him human and left only his base instincts. He did what he did to survive. He killed to survive. Because HYDRA would punish him otherwise. They probably told him that they would kill him. He's not guilty. If they were to hold a trial he would be found not guilty, because he did not have a choice. SR

**Stranger:**  Now, I don't know what you were like before they got your hands on you, but I'm pretty sure that it's the same for you. SR

**You:**  Before who got their hands on me? NR

**Stranger:**  Department X. SR

**You:**  Rogers, if you think back to when you were younger. I mean as a child. What age were you the farthest back you can reach? Your earliest memory. What age do you have to reach until you can remember it? NR

**Stranger:**  Alright, so they got you as a child. How the hell can you blame yourself, then? SR

**You:**  The point is I don't remember when they 'got their hands on me'. NR

**You:**  I blame myself because I did it. NR

**You:**  You can't just conveniently pass off what I've done to someone else. I always had the choice to die instead. Every time I killed someone, I was making a choice between killing and being killed. It's still a choice and I still made it. NR

**Stranger:**  Is it really a choice, though? If you take a human being and remove everything that makes them human. Their memories, their hobbies, their preferences, their personality, everything they know about life. You take them, and you turn them into a shell of a man. Aren't they like an animal, then? They're way smarter, of course, and stronger and they can operate guns and knives and they can drive vehicles, but there's nothing left of their personality, other than things that humans have had since they learned how to make a fire. All that's left is your survival instinct. No pride, no sense of justice, just that one thing. All you want to do is survive. If you take an animal and give it a choice, kill or be killed, they'll always kill. No matter what. That doesn't make the animal a murderer. SR

**You:**  I thought you said we weren't animals. NR

**Stranger:**  I did say that. And I meant it. Because you got away, and he got away. SR

**Stranger:**  And that means nobody's screwing with your mind anymore. SR

**You:**  It doesn't just stop like that Steve. NR

**Stranger:**  I realise that. But I do believe that remembering me, and jumping after me, and diving down to find me, and dragging me out of the water, and waiting for me to wake up, did something to help him get better. SR

**You:**  Maybe. NR

**Stranger:**  I honestly think there's more to this. You're not just afraid that he's dangerous. It's like it's personal. SR

**You:**  And I think there's more to you wanting to protect him other than a sense of justice and loyalty because you used to be friends. But I suppose that's personal too. NR

**Stranger:**  Of course it's personal. Told you. He was all I had. He wasn't just a friend. He was my best friend, he was family, he was the one who got me through the winters. He was everything to me. When I had nothing I could still count on him. SR

**You:**  Sounds like a love story. NR

**Stranger:**  No. You want to know what a gay love story from the 1930's sounds like? 'That's wrong, that's vile, you're under arrest'. SR

**You:**  Yours sounds more dramatic. NR

**Stranger:**  It's personal for me, you're right. Is it personal for you, too? SR

**You:**  No. NR

**Stranger:**  Right. SR

**You:**  Are you still going to try and break him out? NR

**Stranger:**  What do you think? SR

**You:**  I think you're wasting my time. NR

**Stranger:**  Well, I'm sorry for that, then. I'll see you whenever. SR

**You:**  I'll see you whenever.


End file.
